An Imperfect Match
by fbeauchamphartz
Summary: Sebastian is more than certain that he's a Dom, but on his seventeenth birthday, not only is he marked as a sub, but he also gets Kurt as his Dom. He doesn't want to have anything to do with Kurt, but running away from him means becoming weak and helpless. If Sebastian decides to return to Kurt, can Kurt surprise Sebastian? Mention of Blaine/Klaine. Kurt H. Sebastian S.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Inspired by the Klaine Advent Drabble prompts 'ache' and 'balance'. High school/soulmate/dystopian AU with D/s elements, bonding, slight mind control, mention of anxiety, mention of Blaine/Klaine, and with a twist._

Sebastian leaned his head against Kurt's front door, sighing all of his defeat and anxiety into the grain of the hard, uncaring wood. He knew what he was about to do – understood it, had come to terms with it – but in his mind he still denied it to the point that he could not force himself to ring the doorbell.

_I am not a sub,_ he repeated in his head. _I am a Dom. I've always been a Dom. I'll always been a Dom._

Unfortunately, that's not what his DNA seemed to believe, or else three weeks ago on his seventeenth birthday he would have never received the crescent moon mark on his neck that denoted his sub status, nor would he have the name of his Dom emblazoned across his collarbone for the entire world to see – _Kurt Hummel_.

The very idea of being a sub disgusted Sebastian to his core. Giving up his plans, his ambitions, his dreams, with his only purpose from now till death being to serve someone else, made Sebastian boil with hatred. It made him feel that his entire life had been a lie. But Sebastian _might_ have been less upset learning that he was a sub if he had gotten any other Dom – one more complimentary to his upbringing and lifestyle.

Not a pathetic Lima Loser.

Why couldn't he have gotten someone like Blaine Anderson?

Blaine was a Dom, and hot as fucking hell, with what was probably one of the finest asses in all of North America. Blaine would definitely make a better match for Sebastian than Hummel, and Blaine went to Dalton to boot. If Sebastian had gotten Blaine as a Dom, he wouldn't have to switch schools.

With Kurt calling the shots, he'd probably be forced to transfer to _public school_. Looking up from the door and running his eyes over the modest two-floor family house, Sebastian realized that public school definitely seemed like a foregone conclusion. There was no way Kurt's family would be able to afford to send Sebastian to Dalton, and considering the fact that his parents had disowned him…

Sebastian leaned forward and rested his head against the cold door again, closing his eyes to block out the truth a little while longer.

Sebastian couldn't understand why he would get paired up with Kurt anyway. They'd only met each other a handful of times, and in every way, shape, and form, they despised each other. It probably didn't help that Sebastian laid it on thick with his attempts at stealing Kurt's boyfriend, but it served Kurt right. Kurt was soft and simpering, with no style sense and a hard luck case of the gay face. Kurt and Sebastian had nothing in common, and they had never traded anything but insults with one another.

Still, when the announcements went out in the paper that Sebastian's marks showed up and Kurt raced from Lima to Westerville to claim him, he seemed different. Almost excited.

But Sebastian didn't care. He would not be owned. He turned Kurt down hardcore - embarrassing Kurt in public, which he had no right to do. The laws that governed Dom/sub matches were absolute. There was no legal way that Sebastian knew of to break those bonds. Kurt could have _demanded_ that Sebastian come with him. Hell, Kurt could have forced Sebastian to his knees and made Sebastian lick the soles of his Doc Martens, but he didn't. He simply dropped his head, turned on his heel, and walked away.

After that display, Sebastian resisted the pull of his sub side reaching out to his Dom for weeks. He was upset and confused. At Dalton, surrounded by other Doms, he was shunned by people he thought were his friends, whispered about behind his back, and demoted from co-captain of the lacrosse team to second string.

Sebastian had never seen another sub at Dalton. As far as he knew, he was the only one, and he had gotten a sinking feeling from the way even his favorite teachers glared at him that his days at Dalton were numbered.

Out of desperation, Sebastian went home for the weekend to talk to his father about it. His father was a state's attorney. Maybe he knew of some legal recourse that might fix this – something they didn't teach subs in high school because it would cause mass chaos to a system that had worked relatively fine for hundreds of years. If there was one thing that society seemed to fear more than anything, it was change.

Sebastian was more than willing to become that change.

But his father wouldn't even look at him.

"You know," the man had said, motioning for the butler to open the door for his son and dismiss him from the house permanently, "the world is made up of Doms and subs. That's how it works. It's necessary to maintain a certain balance in the universe, if you will. But Smythes have never been subs, and they never will be subs. _You_ are no longer a Smythe."

Sebastian was stunned. He knew his father hadn't been thrilled with his sub assignment, but he hadn't expected to be tossed away so coolly, so emotionlessly.

Sebastian got in his car and drove – and drove and drove and drove – almost all the way to friggin' Indiana, hoping against everything he had read about Doms and subs that time and distance would break his bond with Kurt, but the pull only got stronger. It wore down his body until he was so exhausted from need of physical contact with his Dom that he could barely drive his car. He fought to keep going, to keep driving, to make this separation complete, but no matter how far he ran, no matter how hard he tried, the ache that rose up in his body remained. It encompassed him completely. It attacked him on several levels – it weakened his body, muddied his capacity to think, slowed his reflexes. It had started to paralyze him.

He pulled over miles from the border and parked on the shoulder of the highway, lying down in the front seat of his Mustang. He had no choices. He couldn't drive any farther, but he couldn't stay where he was. Eventually a police officer would come by, scan his finger prints, and find out who he belonged to.

Even against his will, he would have to go back to Kurt anyway.

Before leaving Westerville, Sebastian had spoken to Blaine about all of this – about his theories and his plans to try and escape being owned. Blaine was the only Dom left at Dalton who would still talk to him. Seeing as Blaine was the boyfriend he had tried to steal from Kurt, their friendship started off awkward, but they had managed to segue into a quasi-comradery.

"If you want my advice," Blaine had said, "go to Kurt. Ask for his forgiveness. Tell him you want to do the right thing."

"Do the right thing," Sebastian had scoffed. "You mean basically give up the rest of my life for _him_?"

"Think of it this way," Blaine had said, "what would you have done if _he_ had been the sub? _Your_ sub?"

Sebastian had already given that some thought, but only vengefully. When Blaine said it out loud, it really gave Sebastian a moment of pause.

"Give him a chance," Blaine had said, interrupting Sebastian's thoughts. "He might surprise you."

Sebastian nodded.

"Thank you," he had said, "…uh, sir," adding the title through partially gritted teeth since now he was required to address all Doms that way.

Sebastian thought about Blaine's words, but he wasn't too convinced that Blaine was right. Regardless, he gathered up all the strength he had left to sit up and restart his vehicle, though making the decision to return to his Dom had started to fill him with strength. He drove straight through the rest of the day and overnight, only stopping once for gas, lucking out since he was sure that his parents would cancel his credit cards any day.

Sebastian would probably be expected to return his Mustang as well.

He was Kurt's responsibility now. Kurt's family would have to start taking care of him.

He parked his car outside Kurt's house and looked at himself in the rearview mirror. He hadn't shaved, and his hair was a mess. He had worn his Dalton uniform a few days past its prime, but he had no other clothes. He did his best to tidy up, and felt he looked fine enough provided that Kurt lowered his expectations. He walked to the front door but stopped at ringing the doorbell, and there he stood for over an hour, forehead pressed against the door, preparing to say good-bye to his freedom.

He thought things over one more time, everything that brought him to this point, trying to find one last-minute loophole.

But there was none.

Sebastian finally gave up, and reached out a hand to ring Kurt's doorbell.

A few seconds of silence, and then the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Coming," he heard his Dom's light, airy voice sing out as Kurt approached. His face peeked through the sheer curtains, and when his eyes took in the sight of his sub leaning against the door, his face lit up.

"Sebastian!" he cheered, his voice audible through the glass. Sebastian smiled weakly and gave a slight wave. Kurt seemed excited to see him, but Sebastian couldn't make himself feel the same. This whole arrangement would have been easier if Kurt and Sebastian had started out as friends first, but Sebastian couldn't change that. Maybe they could start from here and work their way through this uncomfortable situation.

Sebastian needed to have a little faith in his Dom. He needed to let Kurt surprise him.

Kurt unlocked the door and threw it wide open.

"Blaine told me that you would be coming back," he said, stepping aside and gesturing for Sebastian to walk in.

"Yeah…" Sebastian said, his voice raw and broken. "I'm here…sir." Sebastian struggled to remember that he must always refer to his Dom as _sir_. He could be punished if he didn't, though Kurt didn't seem to Sebastian to be the heavy-handed type.

Kurt locked the door behind them and took Sebastian's hand, leading him through the living room. Sebastian had never been inside Kurt's home before. It was nice – small and cozy, nothing like the huge, empty house Sebastian had grown up in. He might be able to consider this home after a while. Like everything in his new life, he just needed to give it a chance.

"So, you're willing to accept your place as my sub?" Kurt asked, looking back at Sebastian with sympathetic eyes as he led him down a set of stairs – stairs that led from the main floor to below the house. Sebastian thought he remembered Blaine saying something about Kurt's bedroom being in the basement. "Because, unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to change that for you."

"Yes, sir," Sebastian replied, feeling stronger, more secure now that he was in the presence of his Dom. The dark staircase let out into a softly lit room, with muted grey paint covering the stone walls and vintage dark wood furnishings. Colorful Moroccan-inspired fabric hung from every piece of furniture - draped across his chairs, a futon, a Victorian settee, and his bed, where five other McKinley High students sat, all Doms that Sebastian could see, all watching them with a peculiarly amused interest.

"That's wonderful," Kurt sighed, turning to face Sebastian with a relieved expression on his face. Kurt stared at Sebastian and Sebastian stared back, waiting for whatever command Kurt decided to give him. Kurt pulled away a bit, and before Sebastian could blink, he slapped Sebastian hard across the cheek. Sebastian's head snapped to the side with the power behind that hit – much stronger than Sebastian would have ever imagined. When Sebastian came back to his senses – when the stars cleared from his vision and he could see again – he looked back at his Dom. Kurt's sympathetic eyes were gone, replaced by something much darker, much less forgiving.

"_That_ was your first lesson," Kurt said. "Don't _ever_ humiliate me in public again."

Sebastian nodded, needing the movement of his head to remind him to breathe.

"Yes…" Sebastian muttered, his jaw still reeling from the sting of that slap.

"Yes, what?" Kurt bit out.

"Yes…sir," Sebastian said quickly. "Yes, sir."

Sebastian felt himself change. Deep inside his mind, something bobbed to the forefront – something that seemed to sap all of his will. He wanted to say something. He wanted to defend himself. Mostly, he itched to slap Kurt back and harder, but he couldn't. He physically couldn't. Something about being in the presence of his Dom prevented his body from doing so.

Outside he was the picture of perfect obedience, but inside his head, Sebastian was screaming.

"Now, I know your parents sent you to Dalton because that's where all the wealthy Doms send their kids and _you_…" Kurt emphasized, prodding Sebastian's shoulder with his index finger, "were expected to be a Dom. But you're not." Kurt closed the gap between them, stepping into Sebastian's personal space and speaking straight into his skin. "You are a sub – _my_ sub – and you will do as you're told. Do you understand?"

Sebastian opened his mouth, his first instinct to tell Kurt exactly where he could shove his little speech, his posturing, his big boy act for all his friends, but all that came out was, "Yes, sir. I understand, sir."

These submissive phrases came out more fluidly now, and Sebastian hated them. He longed to spit in Kurt's face, but his mouth went dry at the thought.

Kurt continued to stare into Sebastian's eyes while Sebastian thought these things, and it unsettled him. Kurt crinkled his brow and scrunched up his nose, a slight frown turning down the corners of his mouth, and it struck Sebastian that Kurt seemed to be reacting to Sebastian's thoughts – as if he were reading Sebastian's mind.

"Sebastian, as punishment for running away, you will start out as a dog," Kurt said, turning away from his sub to check the reaction of his audience, "and dogs do not wear clothes. So you will need to take yours off."

"You…you want me to undress, sir?" Sebastian asked, glancing with only a flick of his eyes at the other Doms seated on Kurt's massive bed, all with smug grins or different varying levels of laughter in their eyes. "Here? Now?"

"Yes, here," Kurt said, approaching his dresser and opening one of the drawers, addressing Sebastian dismissively while he rummaged through the contents. From the murmur of laughter that rose from the audience of Doms, they seemed to know what Kurt was looking for. Sebastian would be the last to be let in on the joke. "Yes, now." He lifted his eyes from the drawer and stared at an unmoving Sebastian, his eyebrow raised. "And don't just take them off. Shred them."

More laughter rose up, and Sebastian's cheeks began to glow.

"Shred them, sir?" he repeated.

"Yes," Kurt said with a tone of put-on irritation. He reached out a hand, grabbing hold of the button that joined his blazer, and gave a sharp tug, popping the button off and sending it bouncing to the floor. "I want you to rip them off your body."

Sebastian raised his hands to the collar of his shirt, somewhat out his own control. He grabbed both sides of his white button-down and tugged. The buttons flew one by one as Sebastian tore his shirt open, revealing his bare chest to the group, and inspiring a polite round of applause.

Applause for his obedience, his submission, or for his humiliation? He might never know.

"That's more like it," Kurt said with a smile. He lifted a large apparatus from the drawer – conical in shape and smooth, tapered at the rounded tip - that made Sebastian's eyes grow to the size of saucers. Sebastian had seen vibrators like this one before, but this was much more intimidating. It attached to a wire that led to a voltage meter. Kurt switched it on high and took a swipe at Sebastian's chest, the resulting electrical charge zapping his skin, causing Sebastian to jump back at the shock.

Sebastian swallowed hard.

"I think it's time," Kurt said, his grin growing wide as he saw Sebastian's eyes shimmer with fear, "that I taught you how things are going to be from now on."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _When I wrote the first chapter (which was supposed to be a one-shot) I had a whole idea regarding the direction this story would take if it were continued, and a reason for why Kurt behaved the way he did, all of this unknown to you guys since you are not me. Seeing as I got a lot of varying reactions regarding this story, I decided to continue it..._

Sebastian had his hands poised at the waist of his slacks, preparing to tear the button open and drop them to the floor, but something in his mind was overriding Kurt's orders, keeping himself clothed from the waist down.

Keeping himself safe.

"I told you to _shred_ them," Kurt said, locking his jaw around his tongue in anger. "Drop your pants and turn around."

"Uh, Kurt," Mercedes - one of the Doms watching from the bed - spoke up, the basement room suddenly silent as the group of friends gathered began to realize that things were getting way out of hand, "I think you can stop now."

"Yeah," Marley, sitting beside Mercedes, piped in, "you got him back. That's enough."

"They're right, dude. I mean, look, you scared the shit out of him," Puck added, standing from the bed and slowly approaching Kurt, keeping his distance from the pulsing electric apparatus in Kurt's hands. "That's what you wanted. Now, stop before somebody gets hurt."

"If you guys are really that weak, you are all invited to leave," Kurt snapped, his eyes never leaving his sub's face.

"Kurt, what's wrong with you?" Finn's soft voice seemed to be the only one that had any effect, causing Kurt to shift his eyes to glance at his stepbrother. "This isn't like you, man."

Sebastian could see the other Doms in the corner of his vision, their faces changing from amusement to worry, for their friend and for him, but as much as he appreciated their sudden changes of heart, he dared not move his eyes from Kurt's face to look at them.

"Nothing's wrong with me. Maybe…maybe I'm just tired of getting the short end of the stick all the damn time," Kurt said, tightening his grip on the electric vibrator, wringing it in his hands. From the cracking sounds it made, Sebastian thought Kurt might actually snap it in two. "Maybe it's exhausting turning the other cheek and watching everyone get away with treating me like dirt."

"Dude, we all know how you feel," Puck said, splaying his arms wide to indicate everyone in the room, "and you're right. But you got him back. He's your sub. You have a responsibility to take care of him. If you hurt him…"

"Kurt," the final silent person in the room stood from the bed, "if I had known this was what you were going to do, I would have never convinced Sebastian to come back here." Blaine stepped between Kurt and his sub, placing his hand over Kurt's, trying to get him to release his grip. "Finn is right, this isn't like you. You need to stop this now and go talk to your dad. He'll be able to help you."

Kurt bit his lower lip, and Sebastian, now shielded by Blaine's body, could see Kurt consider Blaine's words – all his friend's words. Kurt shook his head, his eyes filled with conflicting emotions.

"How can my dad help me?" Kurt asked, sounding close to tears. "My mother loved him. With all her life and everything she had, she loved him. Finn's mother loves him. All the rest of you with subs are all so frickin' in love. Why did I end up with _him_?"

"I don't know, baby," Blaine said, putting his other hand up to Kurt's cheek and touching him gently. Sebastian felt Kurt's anxiety start to bleed away, as if the stress Sebastian felt coming off of Kurt's body was his own. But the hand on Kurt's cheek – _Blaine's_ hand stroking Kurt's cheek, giving him comfort – stung Sebastian to his core. Suddenly it didn't matter what Kurt had tried to do, what revenge he had tried to exact. Sebastian hated Blaine's hand on Kurt's cheek – he hated Blaine comforting Kurt when he could not.

Sebastian wanted to comfort Kurt, and Blaine had taken his place.

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, continuing to stroke Kurt's cheek, "I don't have any answers for you. But there's nothing we can do to change this."

_Nothing **we** can do._

_Nothing **we** can do to change this._

They had discussed this, discussed _him_, trying to find a way out for Kurt.

Sebastian's hands, still locked on his slacks, curled into the fabric, straining not to rip it to shreds.

He knew that Blaine was the only thing standing between him and an electric enema, but the urge to shove Blaine aside was becoming strong within him.

The front door opening and then slamming shut upstairs broke the tension in the downstairs room.

"Kurt?" Kurt's father called from the living room upstairs. "Kiddo? Where are you, bud? There's a bunch of cars outside."

The Doms all stepped back, all except Blaine, who kept his eyes locked on Kurt's, trying to bring him back from this place of irrationality and sorrow that Kurt was wallowing in.

"We're down here, Burt," Finn called out, not entirely convinced that Blaine would be able to completely diffuse the situation. Finn had as much reason as anyone to despise Sebastian, especially considering how he had once threatened to leak badly Photoshopped nude photographs of him all over the Internet, but Sebastian was a part of their family now. He belonged with Kurt. And Kurt – usually kind and compassionate Kurt, normally so forgiving of everyone – did not need to be labeled as an abusive Dom. That title could follow him his entire life - destroy any chance of a future for him.

It might even get him thrown in jail.

Kurt didn't move. Even the sound of his father's footsteps descending the stairs didn't snap Kurt out of his haze. Puck moved quickly, removing the buzzing instrument from Kurt's hands, powering it down, and putting it back in its drawer. Puck wasn't eager to see Kurt grounded for life, especially with Glee Choir Regionals coming up. Finn could go on all he wanted about the beautiful voice of his sub Rachel, but Puck knew that Kurt was one of the real voices behind the choir. They didn't need to lose their rank as champions over Kurt's new douchebag sub.

So, when Burt Hummel took the last step down into Kurt's room, he didn't get the full effect of his son standing menacingly with a large electric discipline device in his hands, but from the tracks of his tears and the way he stared at Blaine – that look of heartbreak and longing he had on his face when he first told Burt about his new sub, and how it wasn't Blaine – along with the presence of the new boy standing half-dressed and seething at the back of Blaine's head, Burt got a pretty good idea what was going on.

He looked around the room at the other Doms assembled, all watching the scene with varying degrees of concern in their eyes.

Whatever had been going on down here, he must have just missed it.

"Uh, hey kids," Burt said, approaching his son, "why don't you guys head out of here. I have a feeling I need to talk to my son alone."

Nods of agreement circulated from Dom to Dom in a wave around the circle. Each one picked up their belongings and headed up the stairs. The last two to leave were Finn and Blaine. Finn looked at Kurt with sympathetic eyes and left him with an, "I'll be upstairs if you need me." Finn didn't just feel bad for his stepbrother. He felt guilty. Upstairs in his room waiting for him was his sub, Rachel –a girl he had fallen in love with long before he discovered they would be together forever. He considered himself lucky to have her, and naïvely thought that maybe this was the way the whole Dom/sub thing worked all along. You fall in love, and you love so strongly, that person becomes yours – like the universe knows how you feel and gives you what you want.

He was certain that Kurt and Blaine would be together. It just _seemed_ right. They fit one another perfectly, like pieces of the same puzzle. There wasn't a single person in their circle of friends who saw this thing with Sebastian coming. It was almost as if, even after all of the shit that Kurt had been through, fate stuck its head in and said, "You thought that was bad? The bullying and the dumpster throws and the pee balloons and the everything else? Well, watch this."

It was a cruel joke, and it tore Finn up inside thinking that the same force that controlled who they eventually spent the rest of their lives with blessed him so wonderfully and cursed Kurt so horribly.

Kurt didn't deserve it.

But after Kurt found out about Sebastian having his name on his collar bone, and after he cried and cried, he pulled himself together and went to Westerville to claim his sub. He wasn't going to let this bring him down and tear him apart. No, he didn't love Sebastian, not in the slightest. He could barely tolerate him, but Kurt had a responsibility, and he never turned his back on a responsibility.

He had driven to Dalton with Blaine by his side, and for two hours they had discussed how things were going to change – and they said good-bye to the life they had always dreamed of together. In that way that Blaine always seemed to have of helping Kurt see the silver lining in even the shittiest situations, he convinced Kurt that this could be a good thing, that maybe he and Sebastian could grow together like in one of those old tragic romantic stories, where the lovers are thrown together by circumstances beyond their control. They hate each other at first, but they grow to understand each other, and in the end, they are more in love then anyone has ever been.

Kurt hadn't entirely bought into it, but it was enough to give him hope. He ran down the hallway to the senior commons – the same hallway he and Blaine had run down on that first day when Kurt went to spy on the Warblers – and when he saw Sebastian step out of his classroom and turn to face him, recognition on his face as to why Kurt was there, Kurt had believed for a second – one beautiful second – that Sebastian was actually happy to see him.

Until Sebastian humiliated him.

Until Sebastian laughed in his face and called him all sorts of names.

Until Sebastian had called him a Lima Loser.

Kurt had felt his Dom side ignite like a blowtorch in his brain. He knew he had the power to bend Sebastian to his will then and there, but he didn't take it. Because it wouldn't make him look powerful. It would make him look petty and small.

Besides, why would he want Sebastian so much when Sebastian wanted nothing to do with him?

So he turned and left, drove straight home, climbed into bed, and stayed there the whole weekend. He turned off his phone, didn't log into his computer, and after hearing what had happened from Blaine, all of his friends gave him his space. It wasn't until late Sunday night, when Finn and Rachel brought Kurt a glass of warm milk, that he had finally told them everything.

Finn didn't think he would ever forget the look in Kurt's eyes when he told them the story, but he didn't have to.

Kurt had it in his eyes now as he stared at Blaine.

Finn sighed and took the stairs up and out of the basement.

There was nothing more he could do, and selfish as it was, he needed Rachel.

After Finn had gone, Blaine lowered his hand to Kurt's shoulder and squeezed it tight.

He didn't hug Kurt anymore. He was no longer allowed.

"Call me before you go to bed," Blaine said softly, catching a single one of Kurt's tears on his thumb before he turned to go.

Kurt couldn't even nod. He didn't want to see Blaine leave. He was afraid this would be the last time anyone who loved him the way Blaine did would touch him again.

He couldn't have Blaine.

He would never have Blaine.

And not having Blaine was the same as not having love.

He might as well break his legs and cut out his tongue, because nothing in the world – not even performing – would ever make him happy again.

Burt stood quietly in the room with his son and his son's sub until he heard the last of the cars from upstairs pull out of his driveway, and then he finally spoke.

"Kurt," he said, putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder and giving it a pat, "why don't you settle down, take a shower and get ready for dinner. I'm going to show this young man to his new room."

Both Kurt's and Sebastian's eyes shifted to look at Kurt's father, both boys mildly confused.

"B-but…but he…" Kurt started, and his father nodded.

"I know," Burt said. "I know. But I don't think the two of you are quite ready to be together yet. I think this is for the best."

Kurt felt himself want to argue, but he didn't understand why. Dom/sub ed in public schools in America was about on par with sex ed. One sub in his choir class, Brittany, still thought that storks brought babies to their parents, and even Finn and Mercedes once believed that cucumbers could give people AIDS. Something in Kurt's body needed to be close to his sub, regardless of whether or not he could stand the sight of him. But luckily, exhaustion had begun to take its toll, and Kurt agreed, figuring a good cry and a long conversation with Blaine might be all he would need to put him out for the night. Then he could deal with everything in the morning.

"You may take him," Kurt said, head bowed. Sebastian knew that even though Kurt's father was an older, stronger Dom than his son, he still needed Kurt's permission to take care of his son's sub.

Burt turned to Sebastian with friendly eyes but a stern expression – one that radiated worry and compassion, and a slight string of disappointment, but not all aimed at Kurt - maybe a little aimed at Sebastian, but a lot put upon himself. He extended an arm out to Sebastian, and Sebastian uncurled his fingers from his waistband - fingers nearly cramping as he had waited for permission to move. As they walked past Kurt, still stuck in place like a statue, Burt stopped beside his son and cleared his throat.

"Kurt," he said, "isn't there something that you need to say to your sub?"

Sebastian saw Kurt grind his teeth together, but he said nothing, and his eyes didn't move.

"Kurt…" Burt repeated.

"This is your home now, Sebastian," Kurt said. "You may do what you like while you're here."

Sebastian looked at Burt, and Burt smiled. Sebastian noticed that Burt's smiles were more reserved than Kurt's were, so Sebastian wondered if Kurt got his bright, exuberant smiles from his mother. Burt took a step away, but Sebastian stayed, his eyes still locked on Kurt's face.

"Thank you, sir," Sebastian said. He stared at Kurt and prayed that Kurt would turn his head to look at him, but he didn't. Kurt walked off across the room while Burt pulled Sebastian toward the stairs.

The last image Sebastian had of Kurt before he disappeared out of the basement room was Kurt sitting on the edge of his bed, his shoulders shaking gently as if he were crying.


	3. Chapter 3

Sebastian, clothing torn, heart pounding in his chest, and in desperate need of a shower, followed Burt up through the living room to another flight of stairs that took them to the upper level of the house. He didn't really pay attention to where they were going, just followed the older Dom where he led, both glad and resentful of being taken so far away from Kurt's basement bedroom.

"We have several bedrooms up here," Burt said. "You can use one for the time being until things smooth over between you and Kurt a bit. After that…" Burt turned to look at Sebastian, gauging his reaction to the information he was being given. "Well, after that, you'll want to stay with him."

Sebastian nodded, but he wasn't sure if it was a matter of whether or not he wanted to stay with Kurt. He kind of had no choice. Would Kurt want to stay with him? He remembered in the classes he took at Dalton that a big part of the Dom/sub connection was biological. It became something a human needed for survival, along with food, water, shelter, and air.

Except for _switches_. There was a completely different set of rules that governed switches.

Sebastian didn't know what those rules were since he didn't know any switches personally. They were considered rare, and almost revered. His basic understand was that switches got to do pretty much whatever they wanted.

Some people had all the luck.

They walked past several sets of doors with Burt pointing out each one.

"This first door is the bathroom. Use it whenever you need. We don't stand on priority here. It's first come, first serve."

Sebastian had been to houses where Doms had priority. He had always found it amusing in his friends' houses when a sub got up to use the restroom and a Dom ran in ahead, just to be a jackass.

It didn't seem so funny to him anymore.

"This is my and Carole's room," he continued. "Carole's my wife and my sub. You'll meet her later on when she comes home from work…"

Not all Doms married their subs necessarily. Traditionally it was done that way, but more and more Dom/sub pairs choose to simply live together. What was the need for a big expensive ceremony when you didn't get to decide who you wanted to be with for the rest of your life? It seemed showy and ridiculous to Sebastian. That would probably be the way for him and Kurt. No need dragging anyone else in to celebrate their misery.

It seemed a shame, too. Sebastian never necessarily pined for a wedding of any kind, but he knew Kurt did. Kurt had been planning his and Blaine's wedding in secret from the day the two of them met. He had a small notebook that he carried with him full of pictures cut from wedding magazines of cakes, tuxedos, centerpieces, place settings... Sebastian had caught a glimpse of it by accident at the Lima Bean once. He had intended on swiping it at some point as a prank.

That didn't seem so funny anymore, either.

_"Stupid fucking Sebastian!" _

They heard the voice barely muffled by one of the other doors, followed by the high-pitched sound of a young girl saying, "Shush, shush…" over and over.

Burt turned to Sebastian and Sebastian looked down at the floor to hide his chagrin.

"You can probably guess whose room that is," Burt said, running a hand down the door. "Finn shares it with his sub, Rachel. You can meet her later, too."

Sebastian nodded. He was glad Burt didn't demand and immediate introduction. He wasn't really in the mood for people at the moment.

They finally came to a door at the far end of the hall. Burt put his hand on the knob and twisted it.

"This will be your room," Burt said, swinging the door open. "I'm sorry it's so far from Kurt's room in the basement, but he requires a lot of space."

Burt nodded into the room with his head. Sebastian walked past him with hesitant steps, head bowed. It felt foreign how his sub nature made him humble himself in the presence of this Dom who wasn't his own. Burt was a nice enough man, but it still bothered Sebastian. Made this is the lot genetics had drawn for him, but this still wasn't _him_.

Sebastian thought the small room would feel like a prison. It was much smaller than his old bedroom, though larger than the one he had boarding at Dalton. There was a sizable window, and bright sunlight flooded the space. The walls were white, the carpet brown, with a full-sized bed in the center against the wall, made with fresh linens as if permanently prepared for company.

This was obviously the guest room, and now, it was his room.

"I know that this is probably nothing like your room at home," Burt said, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. "We don't quite have the means your parents do, but we get by."

Sebastian turned a full circle, looking the room over wall by wall. It was plain, stark, clean, but still managed to feel cozy.

His parents' house was definitely bigger, but it always reminded Sebastian of a museum, or a mausoleum.

The Hummel house was a home.

"It's…it's fine, sir," Sebastian said. "Thank you very much."

"I'll give your folks a call," Burt said, "and see about getting your things."

_Good luck_, Sebastian wanted to say, but his mouth stopped him short from saying something he might regret. Bad parents or no, his father was still a Dom, and disrespecting him in front of Burt probably wouldn't win him any points.

"Until then, you seem to be about Finn's size," Burt said, looking Sebastian over from head to toe. "I'll see if I can get some old clothes of his to tide you over."

_Oh boy. _Sebastian couldn't imagine that after the sentiment he just heard that he was going to inspire any kind camaraderie by having to borrow Frankenteen's clothes. Besides, he wasn't looking forward to walking around in oversized dad jeans and faded rugby polos.

"You know, I have to ask," Burt started, walking into the room, closing the door slightly, and sitting on the bed, patting a spot beside him for Sebastian to join him, "even though I have the feeling the answer is going to be no…" Burt sighed, running a hand over his head, visibly uncomfortable, "have you and my son…"

Sebastian's face lost all its color and his eyes went wide.

"No," he interjected quickly, desperate to kill the conversation dead before it got any further, "no, sir, we haven't had sex."

The face Burt made at Sebastian's answer managed to make him look more uncomfortable than before.

"Thank you," Burt said, "for letting me know that, but that's not what I was asking." Burt looked into Sebastian's eyes and swallowed hard, folding his hands together and twiddling his thumbs. Sebastian imagined if the poor man fidgeted any more he'd vibrate into a different dimension entirely. "Have you guys…bonded?"

For a moment, a bit of the old, snarky Sebastian broke through his sub veneer and smirked at the older man.

"It's the same thing, sir," he answered in a superior way.

Burt finally smiled a more unguarded smile.

"Excuse me, young man, but you're a little dense if you think that all Dom/sub matches bond by sex," Burt answered back.

Sebastian held on to his smirk, since it made him feel more normal, more like himself, but he shook his head, confused.

"Not everyone partakes in that kind of bonding," Burt explained. "Sex happens to be the one of the more common forms of bonding, and some education systems only recognize sexual intimacy as a way for pairs to bond. But in reality, bonding is specific to the two of you as a couple. It can be something that is deeply meaningful to the both of you that you share."

Sebastian didn't know this, and he was annoyed that he didn't know this. Considering the amount of money his parents dished out to send Sebastian to Dalton, their Dom/sub classes preached sexual intimacy as the only way for pairs to bond. But what Burt said made sense. He didn't think he knew any asexuals, but they were out there. They would bond differently. Sebastian couldn't help being impressed, not just that Burt knew all this, but that he would take the time to explain it to him. He must have shown it on his face, because Burt ran his hand uncomfortably over his head again.

"I…have some pamphlets that I got for Kurt a while back in my room," he admitted, "if you'd like to take a look at them."

"Uh…yes, sir, I would. Thank you," Sebastian replied, even though he would probably forgo the pamphlets and Google this information on the Internet, but so far Burt was the only ally he had in this house. He needed to keep the man on his side. "Out of curiosity, sir, why do you ask?"

"Because if you guys are bonded, then keeping you separate will be painful. I might need to get you some medication to help you sleep."

"No, sir," Sebastian said with a humorless chuckle. "No, we haven't bonded…"

"I'm sorry, Rachel," Finn's voice carried in through the open door, "I know I promised we'd watch Kurt's bootleg of _Camelot_, but I can't be here right now. Not with _him_ here…"

Burt stood an inch or so from the bed, prepared to lean his head out into the hallway to say something to his stepson, but two pairs of footsteps raced down the steps from the upper level, and shortly after the front door slammed. Car doors opened and closed, an engine fired, and Finn's car raced down the street.

Burt looked back at Sebastian and Sebastian hung his head.

"Finn…he…uh…he hates me, huh, sir?" Sebastian deduced, folding his hands in his lap.

"From what I hear, you're not exactly off to a good start with any of them," Burt said, settling back on the bed and putting a hand on Sebastian's shoulder. "Did they, uh…hurt you? Downstairs?"

"No, sir," Sebastian said. "I think that Kurt was just…angry at me, sir. He wanted to teach me a lesson."

But nodded, examining Sebastian with curious eyes. Sebastian kept his eyes trained on the carpet. He couldn't look at Burt. He had no idea what Burt thought of him. Sebastian knew that Burt had been told all of the reprehensible things he had done to Kurt and Blaine and Finn, and the whole of New Directions.

If Burt hated Sebastian the way the others did, he did a better job of hiding it.

"Look, I'm not condoning what my son did, or what he might have done if…but can you imagine why he did it?"

"Because I humiliated him, sir?" Sebastian answered. "Maybe I hurt his pride?"

"A bit," Burt agreed, "but you also hurt his feelings."

Sebastian peeked up at Burt who looked at him sadly.

"I know this whole situation has been a huge change for you," Burt said. "And believe it or not, we're all sympathetic with what you're going through. From what Blaine told me, you were raised your whole life thinking things would turn out a certain way for you, and now – everything's different. That's hard and awful and unfair, and you have every right to be upset."

Sebastian sat still and listened. He was relieved that somebody could appreciate what he was going through, even if he knew there was a _but_ coming.

"Kurt had expectations, too," Burt continued. "He had romantic ideas about this whole thing his entire life, and when he met Blaine, well…I don't think I have to tell you…"

"No, sir," Sebastian said with a shake of his head. "No, you don't have to tell me. I thought the same thing. I thought they'd be together."

"Yes," Burt said, his voice stern, "regardless of how hard you tried to split them up, we all thought they would be together."

Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be held accountable for all his sins right now - not to Kurt's father. He wanted one person who didn't see him for the asshole that he had been to Kurt and Blaine, but he had done this to himself. He couldn't escape the truth, and denying it, running from it, trying to pretend it didn't happen, wouldn't do a thing to fix this situation between him and Kurt.

"But when he found out you were his sub and he accepted that the two of you would be together, the urge to be with you, to start taking care of you, became strong. He still loved Blaine, but he wanted to be with you. And Sebastian, son, what you did to him at Dalton, that was inexcusable."

"I know, sir," Sebastian said. "And…I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the person you need to apologize to," Burt said. "That person's downstairs."

"I know," Sebastian agreed, "but he'll probably never speak to me again, will he, sir."

It was partially a question – Sebastian subtly searching for reassurance.

"Give him time," Burt said. "He'll come around."

_Yeah, because he doesn't have a choice, either_, Sebastian thought to himself bitterly. If Kurt _did_ have a choice, he would never choose Sebastian, and that bothered him all of a sudden.

"But one thing at a time. You look like a boy who could use a shower," Burt said, standing from the bed, leaving Sebastian with a pat on the knee.

_Pats on the knee, pats on the shoulder_ – these little touches were a sub's bread-and-butter. Sebastian needed them and Burt knew that, but Sebastian needed them from Kurt more. The feeling of Kurt holding his hand and pulling him through the living room left its mark on Sebastian's skin. It might have been brief, but it was strong. As kind as Burt was, all of Burt's friendly touches didn't even add up to Kurt's hand in his.

"There are towels in the bathroom that you can use. When you come back to the room, I'll have clothes on the bed for you. We'll let you get settled. For tonight, I'll have your dinner brought up."

Sebastian nodded in response to everything Burt said. At this point, he couldn't be more grateful, even if he was lousy at showing it.

"I really appreciate everything you're doing for me, sir," Sebastian said, hoping it might be a start.

Burt drew his lips together in a tight line.

"Just, do me a favor," Burt said.

Sebastian jerked his head back with surprise.

"Anything, sir," Sebastian said.

"Be nice to my son," Burt said. "Accept him for who he is and…make this up to him."

Sebastian didn't know what to say. He was a bit taken back. Burt could have very well commanded Sebastian to obey his son without question. It would have been a weak command since Burt wasn't Sebastian's Dom, but it still would have been a command, and Sebastian would have honored it. But this was a request, from a father to the boy his son would spend his life with.

_Be nice to him. _

"I will, sir," Sebastian said, knowing it was true and not empty words. He would find a way to make this up to Kurt.

* * *

><p>Showering in the Hummel's bathroom was oddly cathartic. Every inch of grime on his skin was evidence of his old life – his life before he gave into his sub nature – and after twenty minutes beneath the hot water, it was all gone. Sebastian had sifted through all of the soaps and product he found in the bathroom, sniffing at shampoos and conditioners, trying to find the scent he knew Kurt used, but Kurt had a bathroom of his own downstairs in the basement and obviously didn't keep any of his things upstairs. Sebastian opted for plain Ivory soap and some Paul Mitchell shampoo. Clean was clean, after all, and Burt was being more than generous. He would need to learn to stop being such a snob.<p>

Sebastian met his second ally in Burt's wife, Carole. Knowing that she was Finn's mom, Sebastian thought she would be a hulking amazon of a woman, so she was nothing like he expected. She was petite and bubbly, and spoke on and on without a filter of any kind. She laid out his clothes and brought up his dinner. She smiled at him genuinely without any mention at all of what he did to Kurt, or what he had done to her son. She didn't hide her feelings one bit, and looked at him with sympathy in her motherly eyes.

She seemed forgiving to a fault.

He didn't know if that felt better or worse than being held accountable for his actions every second.

As foreign and bizarre as this new life of his was, at least these people talked to him.

That conversation he had with his father the day his father kicked him out of the house was the longest talk they had had in nearly a year.

Without anything else to do after dinner, Sebastian crawled into bed early, turned off the lights, and listened to the sounds of the house. Finn and Rachel had come home a few hours after they had left and joined Burt and Carole for dinner. (Sebastian didn't hear anyone address Kurt, nor did he hear Kurt speak, so he figured Carole had brought Kurt's dinner to his room, the way she had done for Sebastian.) Finn didn't have anything more to say on the subject of Sebastian, and was mostly quiet during the meal. Afterward, Finn apparently gave in to Rachel's wishes because Sebastian could hear the sounds of _Camelot_ bleeding in through the walls. He heard the television on downstairs, tuned into a football game, with a lively conversation from Carole lilting above the sound of cheering crowds. He only caught snippets of what she had to say - _he_ _seems like a nice boy…definitely handsome…hope they come around soon…nice to have a full house for once_ – with no agreement or disagreement from Burt.

Sebastian couldn't hear anything from Kurt's room since it was so far down below him, but he could _feel_ Kurt.

Lying in bed, Sebastian felt Kurt sleeping in the basement – or more to the point, _not_ sleeping.

He assumed Kurt was on the phone with Blaine the way his mood seemed to shift from happy to miserable in the blink of an eye. Sebastian closed his eyes and pictured Kurt, lying beneath the covers of his bed, eyes red, pale face splotchy, sniffling, with his cell phone pressed to his ear while he lamented over and over about the horrible turn his life had taken.

A weight pressed on his chest – a weight made of guilt, hate, resentment, and disgust. No, he and Kurt hadn't bonded, but there was still a connection between them – a connection made more intense by Sebastian being closer to him. He couldn't turn a blind eye to Kurt's pain, despite the cause. Kurt's pain was within Sebastian now. It was his own. Sebastian knew that he had it somewhere in him to relieve Kurt of his pain. But to a degree, Kurt still had Blaine.

And Sebastian was alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** _Warning for nightmares and anxiety related to Kurt's mother's death._

Kurt couldn't relax and he couldn't sleep. His eyes sticky and his face swollen from crying, he felt broken, his body and soul torn apart – irreparable. Talking for hours with Blaine - hearing him promise over and over that he would always love Kurt, come what may - didn't help. After Blaine had said _I love you_ a dozen times, the words didn't even _sound_ like words anymore. Kurt couldn't comprehend them. Blaine loved him and he loved Blaine. So why? Why did this happen?

How could something Kurt held so dear matter so little in the end?

What made it worse was that Kurt wanted to hear Blaine say that he loved him – he'd never get tired of hearing it - but his body wanted to be somewhere else in his house with someone else entirely. In the depths of Kurt's confused brain, he felt wretched and dirty, like he was cheating. He was an outsider in his own head. He didn't know himself anymore. Something important that he had, that he had always clung on to, was now gone.

Kurt felt the same way he did on the day that his mother died. He was only a small boy when his best friend, his kindred spirit, the person who understood him better than anyone, had gone away.

He felt like there was nothing left for him.

It didn't make sense and he didn't understand it, because this Dom/sub relationship crap shouldn't be this hard. Kurt had seen plenty of people in his school date casually, then one day find their match (Kurt cringed away from using the words _soul mate_, though it was a widely acknowledged term) and _boom_. It worked like flipping a switch. The couple would break up and go their separate ways with their Dom or sub, and life went on. There was no unhappiness, no bitterness, no regret.

So why was his situation different?

Why was what he had with Blaine _and_ Sebastian so difficult?

If he and Sebastian were truly meant to be, how could he still be in love with Blaine?

Could it be because this was some big cosmic mistake? That being matched with Sebastian was wrong - a genetic anomaly? If that was the case, then could it be fixed? Who would he have to see for that?

He'd never heard of it before. He even broke out the pamphlets his father had given him and rifled through them, looking for any information – a paragraph, a sentence, something to explain what was going on. Somebody had to know. If he went to the counselor at school or saw a doctor and told them about his suspicions, would anyone believe him?

The more he talked with Blaine, the more it felt like beetles eating through the soft tissues of his brain, and before he was prepared to say good-bye, he had to hang up the call. The discomfort came from his psyche – biological measures put in place, a series of hormonal responses meant to keep a person from straying from their match. Even though he and Sebastian hadn't bonded yet, those connections were growing, and they were strong. As long as Kurt still loved Blaine and Blaine still loved him, talking to Blaine, being near him, even thinking about him, would eventually cause Kurt intense pain. It could even make him physically sick.

It was a sickness that came from misplaced affections – a sickness that only the act of dominating his sub would heal.

Kurt scoffed at the thought. He couldn't care less. He wasn't a machine, controlled by arbitrary body chemistry. He was a human being, flesh and blood, with thoughts and feelings and emotions. He could think for himself, be his own person.

He could fight this and win.

As for Blaine, Kurt knew he'd be on board with at least giving it a try. Blaine had gotten his Dom designation – the dark blue five pointed star behind his left ear, just as Kurt had gotten - but strangely enough, he didn't have a sub. Sebastian's full name was etched onto the skin of Kurt's inside left wrist, the same place where all Dom's carried the names of their subs, but Blaine's wrist remained blank. That had to be proof that this was all a big mix-up. Kurt had a sub he could never love, and the boy he loved didn't have a sub. Kurt had to be right about this - he just had to be.

But that didn't make him feel any more relieved.

Kurt remained in this lucid state as his mind worked to find an answer, but Kurt's body finally gave in to sleep. A patchwork of recollections and dreams knitted themselves into strange patterns inside his head, planting messages that he couldn't decipher.

Kurt felt his thoughts spiral back through time, picking out memories at random.

He was a young boy and he was alone, sitting beside his mother's open grave without a single tear in his eyes. The yellow sun shone over his head in a bright, cornflower blue sky - its overwhelming beauty mocking his pain. Why couldn't it rain? Didn't it usually rain at funerals? Why couldn't there be a downpour to hide the fact that his body refused to shed a tear?

Everyone around him wept, shooting confused and somewhat mean glances his way as he sat and stared, trying to will himself to cry. Even his father kept his distance. He was the worst son in the world because he couldn't cry for his own mother's passing, and he would never forgive himself.

Another spiral of memories swept him up like a funnel cloud and when it stopped, he was in high school. Dalton. A boy was being cruel to him, pressuring him, pushing him, jeering at him, but it wasn't Sebastian – it was Blaine.

Blaine disappeared, and there was Sebastian, holding Kurt in his arms, telling Kurt over and over again that he loved him and he always would.

There was a flash of light and sound, and Kurt was standing side by side with Sebastian as doors slammed in their faces – no, the same door slamming about a dozen times, each time slicing into Sebastian's body like a dagger. He fell to his knees screaming, grabbing at his skin, blood seeping through his clothes. Kurt fell to the floor with him, wrapping his body protectively around him.

"Stop!" he screamed. "Stop! Can't you see you're hurting him?"

But the older man at the door, preparing to slam it shut once again, growled mercilessly, "Why do you care?"

The door slammed shut, and suddenly they were surrounded by people Kurt knew, people he loved, reaching their arms out to him, trying to pull him towards them, but he couldn't move. He reached out, desperate to go with them, spinning his head around to find the closest one to him, but then he saw Sebastian, and he realized that he had to make a choice – stay with his family and friends, or be with his sub. His friends and family called to him, but Sebastian stayed silent, waiting for permission to move or speak, pleading with Kurt with wide green eyes, full of sorrow.

Kurt couldn't make a decision. He didn't know who to choose or which way to go. He started climbing, up and up, fingers digging into hard ground that felt sharp and cold like ice. His body felt heavy, a weight onto himself, dragging him down. Voices shouted at him. He was closer to them now, but he was leaving something behind, something that tore at his chest with ragged claws and left him an open wound.

Sebastian. Kurt was leaving Sebastian behind, and it was breaking Kurt's heart.

Kurt gasped, choking on air as he fought to take a breath, his mind going blank. He panicked for a second, his lungs starved for oxygen, but he felt himself breathing normally again. He didn't struggle to open his eyes, not wanting to get stuck in the arms of sleep paralysis. That had happened to him twice before. It was an experience he wouldn't wish on anyone.

Kurt thought he was done dreaming. Maybe if he lied still and waited, he'd wake up. Then he would make himself a mug of warm milk, wrap up in his blanket, put _Moulin Rouge _on his laptop, and play the role of insomniac for the rest of the night.

The dreams weren't over. His body needed something that Kurt refused to give it, and it had other plans.

Kurt felt a hand take his – sweaty palms pressed together, fingers laced - pushing his hand into the pillow beneath his head.

Hooded dark eyes flashed in his mind – wide obsidian pupils without an inch of colored iris to be seen.

Eyes that were eager to obey.

"Touch me," he heard his own voice command, panting and breathy, but forceful and completely in control. Fingertips trailed up his leg to the juncture of his thighs, over his stomach, up his chest, along his neck, then traced his lips. He heard a moan and he knew that it was him, reacting in his sleep.

Jesus, he hoped no one else could hear him.

"Kiss me," he said, and without another breath, lips slipped over his. An incredible sensation of warmth washed over him, making his skin tingle. He was underneath someone – definitely underneath – legs opened wide, pushed into, filled up, but he was in utter and complete control of everything going on around him. The body above Kurt's moved because _he_ wanted it to, the hands holding him down did so at _his_ command, the thick length dragging slowly in and out of his body was there because this was how _he_ desired to make love.

That's what was happening – he was commanding someone to make love to him.

"Bite me," he said, and the sharp sting of teeth tantalizing the skin at his throat made him buck up, arching his back, fighting to find the flesh and the heat he knew should be there, but wasn't.

An animal instinct burned inside Kurt. His body had a mind of its own, and that mind longed for the touch of someone too far out of his reach.

_Find him_, a voice in his head said. _Find him_.

He swung his feet off the side of the bed and settled them on the floor. Slowly he rose, pushing himself up on his elbows, sitting upright, and then standing. He trudged slowly since he hadn't really opened his eyes before he started making his way to the staircase. He blinked in the dark as he took step after step, his hand brushing the railing, the glide of his fingertips over the polished wood bringing to mind thoughts of caressing smooth, tan skin.

_Find him_, the voice repeated. _Find him_.

Kurt made his way through the living room, and what remained of his conscious brain awake behind bleary eyes steered his body toward the front door. Kurt figured that the plan had to be to get into his Navigator, drive to Blaine's house, climb in through Blaine's bedroom window, and get into bed with him.

Then Kurt could finally give Blaine what he had dreamt of giving him for the last few months.

Maybe that would be enough to change things.

But his subconscious mind balked, twisting him away from the door and leading him up the stairs.

_Find him…find him…_

Kurt ran his hands over the walls. He felt the house move beneath his fingertips - like a body breathing, hitching at his touch. His fingertips slid from wall to door, wall to door, until he found the door he wanted. He reached down for the knob, turning it carefully, and swung the door open.

Kurt rarely went inside this room. He had no reason to. When his friends spent the night, they stayed with him in the basement.

Kurt didn't want to be in this room.

The person asleep in here should be in bed with him downstairs.

Kurt closed the door behind him quietly and flipped the lock. He crossed the floor, bare feet sinking into warm carpet, muting the sound of his steps. He reached the bed, pulled back the comforter, and climbed underneath. His fingers reached out for the person he knew was there, touching smooth skin and finding a waist to wrap his arms around. He laid kisses along a collarbone bearing his own name, tracing the letters with the tip of his tongue, and then licking them away. He heard a voice mumbling in the dark - a curious sounding, "Kurt?" calling to him.

"Kiss me," Kurt said, bringing a hand up to twine his fingers into sleep matted hair.

"Wh-what…sir?" came the shaky reply.

"Kiss me," Kurt repeated, tugging at the hair wrapped around his fingers.

He felt lips tentatively press against his – chaste, dry, sweetly apprehensive. Kurt licked those lips, the taste of them beneath his tongue awakening more of the animal inside him. Kurt kissed back, sucking a lip between his teeth and biting it, hearing a deep voice moan into his mouth.

"Touch me," Kurt said, reaching for a hand and drawing it up under his shirt. He craned his neck, arching pale skin toward the mouth he felt hovering near his cheek, warm breath ghosting over his skin.

"Wh-what do you want me to do, sir?" the voice asked as lips started to press along Kurt's neck, a finger pulling back the collar of his shirt to continue over the curve of his shoulder.

"Undress me," Kurt said, reaching beneath the comforter and anxiously pushing his pants down his legs. "Make love to me."

Sebastian shook his head to clear the sleep from his brain, to make sure he heard Kurt correctly when he said, "Undress me. Make love to me."

He felt the immediate reaction of those commands moving his body, taking control of his senses, taking away his ability to make a choice.

"Kurt?" Sebastian repeated, hoping the sound of his name on his sub's lips might bring him around. "Kurt, sir, I don't think you want to…"

Kurt's hand snaked down the front of Sebastian's pants and grabbed a hold of his half-hard cock, stroking up and down his length slowly. Every objection Sebastian had died a quick death in his throat.

"I didn't tell you to think," Kurt said, twisting his hand a bit beneath the head of Sebastian's erection, making Sebastian's body bend to be closer to his Dom. "I told you to make love to me."

Sebastian's eyes became clear as the force behind that command registered in his head, overriding every personal directive Sebastian had to resist. He leaned down close to Kurt's mouth, breathing Kurt in, letting himself feel dizzy.

"Yes, sir," he said, claiming Kurt's lips for his own.


	5. Chapter 5

Kurt slept in late, which he would normally never do. His schedule was too important a thing to him to surrender to the frivolous luxury of sleep. Even on the weekends, he made it a point to be awake and out of bed by seven. It was now ten o'clock on a Saturday, and Kurt was still blissfully, unapologetically asleep. He couldn't help himself. Sleep felt too good. If his alarm went off right that second, he would just let it ring. He had slept more soundly in the last six hours than he had in a long time, definitely since before this whole stupid Dom/sub pairing fiasco. But all good things eventually come to an end, and bit by bit, limb by limb, Kurt started to rise from sleep. He woke with a smile on his face, invigorated, refreshed. Every cell of his body felt quenched. He felt like a new person.

He had had the most incredible dream.

He was making love to Blaine, the love of his life, and it was by far the most incredible experience he'd ever had.

But it couldn't have been only a dream, not with the way he felt - his body sublimely heavy, every inch of his skin tingling, his bare back flush against the heat of another body behind his, the comforting weight of arms wrapped around him.

Everything about this felt right, felt perfect.

This was definitely where Kurt belonged.

Kurt smiled into the sunlight that warmed his face. He blinked a few times, his eyes still clouded from crying, but now he could put that all behind him. His vision cleared, and he saw white walls in a white room.

White walls?

Blaine's walls were green – a deep, sage green. Blaine called it a _manly_ green. His father had chosen the color for him.

Kurt furrowed his brow and closed his eyes, backtracking in his fuzzy memory to the night before.

He saw himself climbing up from the basement, to the living room, heading toward the front door, arm extended, hand reaching out to the knob with his only conscious thought being to get to Blaine. But his body changed course, had taken him up stairs, down the hallway to the guest room – the one room that his father would have no doubt given to…

Kurt's eye popped open.

"No," he whispered.

Images of last night flooded back, words he had spoken echoing in his ears - _touch me…kiss me…make love to me…_

All commands – Dom commands – from Kurt, to his…

Kurt turned in the arms that held him and saw Sebastian sleeping peacefully behind him.

"No," Kurt moaned, scrambling out of bed, nearly tripping over his feet and collapsing to the floor. The air in the room felt cold in comparison to sleeping folded in Sebastian's embrace. Kurt looked down and noticed with dismay that he had no shirt, though he was certain he had gone to bed wearing one. He threw his arms over his chest to keep himself covered. He had pants on, but not his shirt. He stared at his skin and whimpered - his chest covered in new purple bruises and teeth marks. The front of his pants clung to him, a cold and damp spot right over his flaccid penis. He wanted to sob. He wanted to choke. He wanted to drop to the floor and die. "No, no, no, _please_, no…"

Sebastian woke as well, as soon as his Dom left his arms. He heard Kurt, and turned his face in the direction of his muttering.

"That's not what you were saying last night," a drowsy Sebastian remarked, rousing from sleep to the sound of Kurt' s repeated laments, his moaning sorrowfully like someone he loved had died. "Why don't you climb back into bed and we can _ouch_!" Sebastian shot up after a thick book smacked him on the forehead. "Kurt! What the fuck?" Sebastian rubbed his head, his eyes closed to block out the sunlight that only added to the pain. He had hoped that he could go back to sleep until he remembered where he was, and what he'd been doing. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Sebastian," Kurt said, his voice shaking, "I need to know something and I need you to be truthful."

"Yes, sir," Sebastian responded, the sub part of his mind adopting a more serious attitude in the face of his Dom's distress.

"Tell me, Sebastian…" Kurt swallowed hard. He didn't want to say it. If he said it, and Sebastian confirmed it, than it would be real, and Kurt didn't want it to be real. "Last night…did we…?"

"No, sir," Sebastian said firmly, shaking his head. "No, we didn't."

Kurt sighed, overwhelmed by relief, but then he registered the sound of Sebastian's relief and he frowned.

"Well, don't sound so happy," Kurt growled, a tinge of offense shadowing his embarrassment.

"I'm not," Sebastian said, rolling his eyes. "Believe it or not, stopping last night was the hardest thing I've had to do in a while, sir."

Kurt nodded but he forced himself not to smile. He didn't want Sebastian to know that any part of him was touched by that comment. The blush on his cheeks he couldn't help, but that could be explained away by his anger and surprise at finding himself in his sub's bed this morning. Kurt looked Sebastian over, sitting on the mattress with a sheet over his lap, one leg partially uncovered, exposed up to his hip.

"Then, why are you naked?" Kurt asked, scrunching his nose and wrapping his arms tighter around his torso.

"I always sleep naked, sir," Sebastian answered with a smirk and a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. Kurt sighed. That might prove to be problematic if Kurt's body insisted on dragging his tired ass up to Sebastian's room.

"Well, while you're here, can you please at least sleep with pants on?"

Sebastian had every intention of making a snarky remark, and surprisingly he felt like he could, like nothing would stop him, but as Kurt's request was just that, a request and not a command, he couldn't refuse.

"Yes, sir," he said. "I'm sorry, sir." He added the apology as an afterthought, to show his sincerity.

Kurt stared at his chest and the marks that he could see. Sebastian's skin seemed to be void of such bruises.

"So, we didn't have sex?" Kurt asked, a bit disbelieving considering the wetness on his pants.

"No, sir," Sebastian assured him. "We didn't."

A thought leapt to Kurt's head that he couldn't push away. He had heard rumors, and if Sebastian hadn't been his sub, he wouldn't have cared. He would have just felt sorry for the poor guy who got stuck with him.

As it turned out, _Kurt_ was the poor guy who got stuck with Sebastian, so now he was concerned.

"Have you ever…?" Kurt asked

Sebastian tried to look smug when he answered, but again, and quite unlike him, he couldn't find it in him.

"Yes, sir," he said, dropping his eyes. "Yes, I have."

Kurt's face fell, his eyes full of anger…and heartbreak.

"Of course you have," Kurt said, hugging his body until his arms shook.

_Blaine and I were waiting for each other. I don't even get that._

Sebastian felt guilty, and he hated feeling guilty. But why should he? This was _his_ life. He did _what_ he wanted, _when_ he wanted. Sebastian should fell grateful that he got the chance, regardless of Kurt's hurt feelings and his little hissy fit.

"Give me a break, Kurt," Sebastian groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Who in the world would buy into that _saving yourself _crap?"

Kurt turned on Sebastian, eyes watery with tears and full of venom.

"I would!" he yelled. "I did! I was saving myself for the man that I loved! I wasn't about to just give myself away to anyone!"

Sticking to his guns in this situation didn't feel as good as Sebastian thought it would.

"So…you and Blaine…"

"No," Kurt snapped. "Not that it's your business, not that you care, but we never did. We were waiting. We were stupid and we waited because we thought everything was going to work out for us, that it would be better, that it would mean more, after we were matched. And now, even if I want to - and I really, _really_ want to - I can't because of you!"

"I…" Sebastian stopped short of yelling at Kurt, of telling him to stop blaming all of this on him, that he didn't want any of this either, but he couldn't. Nothing was stopping him, oddly enough, he just couldn't, because something about the way Kurt's face crumbled made Sebastian want to run to his side, to hold him and soothe him.

But he didn't.

"So, what _did_ we do?" Kurt asked through unshed tears.

"I…jerked you off," Sebastian admitted, speaking plainly and without emotion.

Kurt gasped, hugging himself harder, fingers biting into his flesh.

"God, you're so crass," Kurt said, shrinking in on himself, feeling embarrassed knowing that Sebastian had his hands on him. "Can't you find a better way to put it?"

"Excuse me, princess…uh, sir." The insult came out so naturally, but Sebastian didn't understand how. "How come I can talk to you like that?"

Kurt sighed.

"Because I gave you permission to do what you wanted as long as you are here," Kurt said sullenly, finding his t-shirt on the floor and bending down to pick it up, "and apparently what you want to do is insult me."

Sebastian's jaw dropped. He hadn't given it much thought. Calling Kurt _princess_ and being sarcastic to one another was sort of their thing. Kurt's feelings had never entered into the equation.

Kurt pulled on his shirt and turned to the door, shoulders slumped, again hugging his torso. He stopped at the door with his hand on the knob.

"Keep your door locked at night from now on," Kurt commanded. "I have a feeling that's not the last time I'm going to end up here."

Sebastian found himself not wanting to agree, but he had been commanded.

"As you wish, sir."

A sharp knock shook the door, swinging it open a crack. Finn's head peeked in, looking at Kurt first, then at Sebastian shirtless in bed with the sheet covering him from the waist down. From where he stood at the doorway, Finn could tell that Sebastian was naked beneath his sheet, and he scowled.

"Hey, guys," Finn said, controling his temper to keep from making things more uncomfortable, "Burt wants to see you both downstairs."

"Thanks. We'll be down in a minute, Finn," Kurt said, hiding the emotions of the morning behind a weak excuse for a smile.

Finn smiled at his stepbrother, then aimed a disapproving glare at Sebastian, and backed out of the doorway. Kurt lingered until he heard Finn's heavy footsteps echo down the stairs.

"I'll wait outside the door," Kurt said. "Get dressed and we'll go down together. I mean, they'll all know I'm up here by now, so…"

"There's no reason to try and save face," Sebastian agreed. "Yeah. Just give me five seconds, sir."

* * *

><p>Kurt and Sebastian headed down the stairs to the living room, Kurt leading his sub, both boys walking with heads bowed, expecting the scolding of a lifetime. Halfway down the staircase, they saw Burt and Carole seated side-by-side on the sofa, looking up at the two of them with neutral smiles on their faces. Whether they thought Kurt and Sebastian had slept together last night or not, it didn't show in their expressions, probably because if they had <em>done the deed<em>, it would have been considered inevitable.

_Can't really unfuck someone once they've been fucked_, Sebastian thought, and bit his tongue hard so as not to laugh.

"Hey, kids," Burt said, gesturing to the loveseat across from him, "why don't you both have a seat?"

Kurt stood aside to let Sebastian sit, then eyed the seat next to him. After last night, sitting that close to his sub didn't appeal to Kurt, and he took a seat on the arm, which earned him a disappointed glare from Burt.

"Sebastian," Burt started, focusing his attention on his son's sub, "I've spoken to your parents this morning. They're going to send your things."

Sebastian looked at Burt Hummel with wide eyes and a renewed respect.

"Really, sir?" he asked, shifting in his seat. He looked up for a moment to see Kurt's reaction, but Kurt looked entirely unconcerned. That didn't bother Sebastian.

It hurt him.

"Also," Burt continued, "they've agreed to turn over your trust fund, and you can keep your car."

Sebastian snuck another peek at Kurt and this time saw Kurt looking back at him with the same expression of confusion on his face. Kurt didn't know everything that had happened between Sebastian and his parents, but he could sense his sub's conflicted emotions, a twisted thread that was both elation and befuddlement.

"Man, you must be very persuasive, sir," Sebastian said with a smile that Kurt could feel in his blood, but Kurt knew from the look on his father's face that Sebastian's happiness would not last long.

There was something his father hadn't told them yet.

"Well, you're still a minor, and they have certain responsibilities toward you that they can't deny," Burt explained. "But they _were_ generous."

Burt sighed, and Kurt held his breath, waiting for the bad news.

"So, should I go up there today and pick up my stuff, sir?" Sebastian asked. He was in no way looking forward to seeing his parents, but he needed a time out - time alone, time to get some wind in his hair and take his mind off all of this – and Kurt – for a while.

Burt looked nervously at Carole and took her hand. His eyes darted up to his son, begging Kurt to do something, _anything, _but either Kurt couldn't decipher his father's facial cues or he didn't care. Burt looked back at Sebastian, whose eyes had turned anxious waiting.

"Uh…there's really no nice way of saying this, so I'm just going to say it and get it over with," Burt said, hand running over his head displaying his one true tell. "Your parents…they don't want you to contact them again…ever." Burt paused, holding tight to his wife's hands and giving Sebastian a moment to process the information. "They're disowning you, son. From this day on, you are no longer a Smythe."

"They're taking away my last name?" Sebastian asked, eyes empty as he stared at Burt. He didn't understand. His parents weren't necessarily affectionate people, but how could they disown him? Get rid of him like he was an old couch or a broken appliance? He was their son.

And he was a sub. Apparently, to his parents, being a sub was the same as being nothing - a hard thing to come to terms with considering his mother was a sub. How was she different? How could she allow this?

Or maybe his father thought she was nothing, too. An unfortunate fact of life. A means to an end.

Sebastian wanted to feel sorry for his mother, but he couldn't. At least she had a last name.

"But, without a last name, I'm…"

"I know," Burt said. "I know. You're considered a non-entity, which is why we're going to contact a lawyer this afternoon and change your last name to Hummel."

Sebastian fell back on the couch. His spine refused to keep him upright anymore, or maybe the weight of this wanted to crush him.

_Hummel_. Sebastian _Hummel_.

Sebastian thought he might be sick right there on the living room rug.

Kurt heard it in his head, so loudly that he was certain everyone had heard. A door slamming shut, over and over, and on Sebastian's face, carefully hidden by his stunned mask, the sting of a blade cutting through his skin.

"Don't you worry, son," Burt said, reaching out and patting Sebastian reassuringly on his knee. "We'll get this all sorted out."

"Yes, sir," Sebastian said softly, struck dumb by the idea that his parents, who he'd known his whole life, we're done with him.

Kurt stared at Sebastian. His sub looked lost.

"So, what are you guys all about today?" Carole asked, trying to change the subject and get Sebastian's angst out of the limelight, so that he could grieve without faces staring at him.

Kurt couldn't answer. He didn't have a voice to answer, sucked into the turmoil of his sub's pain..

"Booty Camp," Finn answered from where he sat on the staircase, not entirely eavesdropping, with his sub by his side. "Mr. Schue made it mandatory."

"Well, we have to get ready for regionals," Rachel added, holding on to Finn's arm.

"Yeah. We're supposed to be at the April Rhodes Auditorium in an hour," Kurt said. Kurt hated Booty Camp. It was made for people who didn't know how to dance. That might be good for Finn, who had two left feet, but Kurt didn't need it. At least going would give Kurt a chance to see Blaine. "You can stay here," he said to Sebastian and Sebastian, not really paying much attention, nodded.

"Why don't you take Sebastian with you?" Burt suggested. "He's going to be attending McKinley. No reason why he can't get an introduction to the school and some of the kids he's going to be hanging out with."

_The kids from the basement?_ Sebastian thought. _No, thank you._

"Dad…" Kurt complained. Sebastian locked his jaw, doing his best to hide how bitter he felt at being talked about as if he wasn't even there, at the amount to which Kurt didn't _want_ him there.

"Kurt…" Burt said sternly, standing and walking to a corner, summoning his son to follow. "I know what you want," his father said, "and I know that you think what you want now is more important than anything. But Sebastian needs you."

"He needs a Dom," Kurt argued, "and he'll be home with you. I'm sure he won't get in the way."

Burt gave his son that disappointed look again.

"He doesn't need just any Dom, Kurt. He needs you."

Kurt dropped his head back on his neck. He knew his father was right. He knew that Sebastian needed him. He didn't want Sebastian to need him, but he couldn't reject him – not after the horrible thing his parents had done.

"Alright," Kurt said, breathing the exhausting word up into the air. He turned to his sub, hands folded between his knees as he slouched forward on the couch, looking down with unfocused eyes at nothing. His defeated, desolate appearance could have tugged at Kurt's heart strings…if Sebastian wasn't ruining everything.

"Come on, Sebastian," Kurt said. "Get dressed. We're going to Booty Camp."


End file.
